Intermittent Fasting 101: The Basics On Fasting To Lose Weight

Quick, if you told anyone that you were fasting to lose weight, they would probably think:

a) You’re crazy

or

b) You’re crazy

It’s sad, but anytime you tell someone that you’re fasting, the only acceptable reasons for doing so are for medical or religious reasons. If you even mention the words “weight loss” and “fasting” in the sentence, then you’re in for a world of hurt.

But in my opinion, fasting for the sake of weight loss isn’t crazy. Not at all.

In fact, strategically fasting everyday for 16 or even 24 hours can provide a whole host of benefits over the conventional “eat breakfast and 6 meals per day” saying.

Couldn’t find a relevant picture, so um… here’s a hot dog.

Basics of intermittent fasting

So what exactly is intermittent fasting (IF)?

Simply put, IF is the act alternating periods of fasting (not eating) and eating. While there is no official IF program, most programs range from 12-24 hours of fasting.

So why is IF awesome?

Well lets see:

You get to eat bigger meals

You get more work done since you’re not eating as often

You have more energy since you’re not bogged down by food

You get to stick your middle finger at every single fitness guru who says eating every 2-3 hours is absolutely necessary for good health

I could go on and on.

Is IF unsafe?

In short, IF is safe.

However, just like everything else in life, if you overdo it and take it to the extreme, then it will become dangerous. If an intermittent fasting program tells you to fast for 16 hours, you shouldn’t disregard that and decide to fast for 100 hours.

As long as you don’t do anything crazy like that, then there’s really nothing dangerous about IF.

But won’t fasting make me fat?

I never really saw the logic in this statement, but since when the hell did not eating make you fat?

But anyways, many people have this ludicrous belief that fasting will make them fat. This belief originates from mainstream media where they constantly promote the fallacy that fasting will force your body hold onto its body fat and make it burn muscle instead which is just incredibly stupid.

Will IF make me lose muscle mass?

When it comes to fasting, another popular myth that people believe is that fasting will make you lose all your hard earned muscle mass. This is simply not true and as long as you perform of heavy resistance training 2-3 times per week, then you shouldn’t fear about losing any muscle mass.

If you need further proof, check out this research study. In it, scientists showed that even when people ate a super low calorie diet (800 calories per day), they were able to maintain all their muscle by lifting weights. The reason behind this is because the act of lifting weights sends a signal to your brain that you want to preserve all your muscle mass.

But don’t you need to eat more often to have more energy?

This is exactly what food companies thrive off of. They create all these products that target people who need a “quick energy boost” or a quick afternoon “pick me up”.

But in reality, these people probably don’t even need these products. They buy them because they fear that they’re suddenly going to crash and burn when in reality nothing is really going to happen.

If you just give your body a chance to experience what it’s like be without food every 2-3 hours you’ll realize that you’ll actually have more energy than ever.

Just give it a shot.

IF is just another way to eat

Even though I love IF and would NEVER go back to eating 6 times per day again, I have to admit, it’s just another tool. It’s another tool to help you lose/maintain weight.

Unlike most fitness professionals, I’m not going to tell you that it’s 100% necessary to do something. I’m not going to tell you that it’s absolutely mandatory to do IF because honestly, it’s not for everyone.

Some people just love to eat small meals every 2-3 hours, and if you’re one of those people, then that’s cool. I’m not gonna judge you.

But if intermittent fasting sounds good to you, then check out the 3 most popular IF programs below.

A look at various IF programs

Over the past couple of years, more and more fasting programs have come into the market. IF is slowly growing in popularity, but here are the 3 most popular forms of IF:

1) Eat Stop Eat

Eat Stop Eat was created by Brad Pilon is now arguably the most well known form of intermittent fasting. I’ve been using this program for the past 3 years, and if you read my blog often then you know that I absolutely love this program.

Brad Pilon – creator of Eat Stop Eat

Eat Stop Eat requires you to fast for 24 hours (e.g. 7pm on Sunday till 7pm on Monday) 1-2 times per week. On the other 5-6 days of the week, your main goal is to simply eat normal (maintenance calories).

The whole goal of fasting 1-2 times per week is to let those days create a calorie deficit of 10-15%.

Important Eat Stop Eat notes:

Even though you’re fasting for an entire 24 hours, this doesn’t mean you get a free pass to the all you can eat buffet. The main goal is to simply eat normal after each fast. Don’t over or under compensate for anything.

Despite fasting for 24 hours, you still get to eat every single day. So for example, if you start a fast on Wednesday night and end it on Thursday night, that means you get to eat a meal on Thursday night. Awesome, huh?

Eat Stop Eat is more of a lifestyle change than an actual diet since you’re only eating less for 1-2 days of the week.

And now we have Leangains created by the oh so famous Martin Berkhan (seen above).

But unlike Eat Stop Eat, Leangains has a much larger focus on pre/post workout nutrition and macronutrients.

With Leangains, you’re fasting every single day. Men will fast for 16 hours and women will fast for 14 hours.

While many people have effectively used Leangains to lose weight, many people have also used it to effectively pack on muscle mass. But not only is this muscle mass, it’s lean muscle, meaning minimal fat gains hence the term “Lean” gains. This is achieved though calorie and macronutrient cycling. If you’re ever looking for a program that lets you pack on muscle with minimal amounts of fat, then this one’s for you.

There are a couple different variations on Leangains, but all every one has you taking 10 grams BCAA before workouts.

I don’t want to delve into the rest of the details but if you’re interested in the rest of the Leangains protocol you can read the Leangains guide here.

Hi, I’ve been reading about IF and have decided to give it a try. But I am not sure how to determine how many calories I should be eating. I am going to either EatStopEat or Leangains. I am a female at 5’5″ and currently weigh 330lbs. Can you suggest calorie intake or tell me where to find it?

Keith,
I have been using intermittent fasting for a few weeks and have cut a lot of things out of my diet. I started strength training again as well and I have lost almost 4o lbs and am starting to get that ripped look. Lots of people have noticed and asked what I am doing too. Great times! Love the Lean gains as I too use the 16 hour fast model. Thanks for the great article.